Sydney FC has parted ways with John Kosmina by "mutual termination" of the coach's contract, effective immediately.

"Sydney FC would like to thank John for his contribution to the club
over the last 15 months," said Sydney FC CEO Stefan Kamasz. "We would
like to wish John all the best in his future endeavours."

Sydney FC will make an announcement in the coming days regarding the
Coach for the 2009/10 Hyundai A-League season.

A few candidates for the job have been touted in the media, including former Manchester United legend Roy Keane, but it has been revealed that Sydney FC will announce Czech Vitezslav Lavicka as their new coach by the end of the week.

Who will win the awards at Monday's 2009 Hyundai A-League awards night?

Okay - so we already know who'll win the Golden Boot award, but let's speculate about who might win the other awards, including the Rising Star, the Golden Boot, Goal of the Year, Leading Goalkeeper, Coach and Referee of the Year and, of course, the most prestigious award in football - the Johnny Warren Medal for the player of the year (determined by his peers).

Only six players, Craig Moore, Archie Thompson, Danny Allsopp, Matthew McKay, Tom Pondeljak and Nikolai Topor-Stanley have previous caps for the national team.

Verbeek has not called up any of his European-based stars, deciding to save them for Australia's crucial World Cup qualification match against Japan on February 11.

With a likely six new debutants tonight, the result will depend on whether these players can make the step up to international level.

Matches such as this should help Verbeek develop more depth in the pool of players able to play in the "big games", although, at the same time, there are no small games when it comes to representing your country.

The Socceroos are in Group B of the Asian Cup qualification stage along with Indonesia, Kuwait and Oman.

The top two teams from each group will progress to the Asian Cup finals, which will be held in Qatar.

The inaugural W-League Grand Final, between Queensland Roar and Canberra United, will be played at Ballymore Stadium in Brisbane this Saturday.

The Grand Final will be shown live on ABC 1 and ABC HD from 3.50pm. Canberra United supporters who are not able to travel to Ballymore will be congregating in the Sports Bar at The Tradies Club, Dickson to watch the match.

Socceroo Jason Culina has agreed terms to a 3-year deal to become the marquee player at new A-League club Gold Coast United.

Jason Culina returns at the peak of his abilities as a current first-choice Socceroo and has made 36 appearances for his country - so far.

The 28-year old midfielder will complete the season with his current club PSV Eindhoven, before arriving at Gold Coast as the highest profile Australian international to return to the A-League.

Culina will wear the captain's armband for United and his signing has club Chairman Clive Palmer suitably ecstatic.

"Some people scoffed when we said six months ago how we intend to win the Hyundai A-League in our first season. Since then we have set about building a squad and team to achieve our aims," said Palmer.

"Jason wants to come back to Australia to be the number one player in the country and show the Australian public his considerable talents. We intend to provide him with the environment to showcase his ability.

"We had a verbal agreement in place and we're delighted to have now completed all the paperwork; we're very much looking forward to him joining us.

"He has enjoyed an exciting career so far and his future is just as exciting," Palmer declared.

United Head Coach Miron Bleiberg said he always wanted to bring in players at their peak.

"Thanks to Clive Palmer we are bringing home a player in his prime who is a polished midfielder and delightful to watch. The public expect to see the Hyundai A-League marquee players heavily involved in the game and with Jason being a midfielder that's what they will get," Bleiberg said.

"Jason has everything we were looking for in a marquee player. He's elegant, hard-working and will be a great example to our players.

"He has a great character and is very well disciplined. That's what we want from our captain and our leader on the field. He ticks all the boxes and we are proud to be the club who has enticed such a top player back to Australian soil.

"Clive Palmer and I wanted to bring home a prominent Socceroo because we knew it would be fantastic for us and fantastic for the game in Australia. Jason is not only a great signing for Gold Coast United; he's a great signing for the league as a whole." said Bleiberg.

Speaking from the Netherlands, Gold Coast's signing said he was excited about the challenge ahead of him.

"When this offer from Gold Coast United first came about I had a long chat with Clive Palmer and Miron Bleiberg. They told me about their ambitions for the club and I spoke about what I hoped to achieve, so at the end of the day our ambitions matched up nicely," Culina said.

"The offer came at a great time as I was heading towards the end of my contract at PSV (Eindhoven) and I have come to a point in my career where I have achieved my goals in Europe. I've won three Championships with PSV, played in a World Cup, played 26 games in the UEFA Champions League and also played in the UEFA Cup, so I felt it was time to look at something else.

"Having done what I wanted to do in Europe I thought it would be a good time to give something back to Australian football, help to promote the sport, and at the same time, raise the level of the game in Australia.

"Gold Coast United is a great opportunity for me to do that and by coming back at a young age I am able to play at my best for the team and the Hyundai A-League. I believe I'm at my peak and I want to produce a very high standard of football.

"Clive Palmer is a winner and a man who knows what he wants. He's made his ambitions for Gold Coast United very clear from day one and said our goal is to win the Hyundai A-League in our first season - and why not?

"Clive has high standards, high expectations and everyone at Gold Coast United has a winning mentality. I'm sure together we can move the club forward in leaps and bounds.

"There is still a lot I want to achieve in the game - I still want to win trophies and play my best football in every game. In Europe you have to have a winning mentality and one of my aims is to bring that mentality to the Gold Coast.

"There comes a point in your career where you have to take that extra responsibility and I'm certainly ready for that," he said.

"I've been a solid member of the Socceroos for quite a few years now and I'm used to playing at the highest level. If I can be the player who is a catalyst for raising standards in the Hyundai A-League then that's fine by me; it's what I want to achieve and the outcome we are all hoping for."

30-year-old Porter signed a three-year deal to bring him to United and is another significant coup for the club. Porter is currently at Hartlepool in England's League One competition and is the club's leading goal scorer.

Bas van den Brink is a tall 26-year old defender who has played in the top Dutch division and UEFA Cup with FC Utrecht.

The Gold Coast United roster now contains 21 of the maximum permitted 23 players.

It's a very exciting squad on paper and one wonders whether that will translate into success on the field.

Adelaide host Queensland in a re-scheduled Round 16 match which will could prove vital for either club.

A win by Adelaide United would go a long way to securing the Premiership Plate, as it would see the Reds go four points clear at the top of the A-League ladder.

Reds coach Aurelio Vidmar is certainly not getting ahead of himself.

"We've got to take one game at a time. It's the old cliche, which is an ugly one, but because there are so many games in succession, we can't really think about what's going to happen next week. We've just to focus on the here and now and that's Queensland." Vidmar said.

Three points for Queensland Roar would guarantee them finals football and also make things very interesting at the top of the table, seeing the top three take a four point break on 4th-placed Central Coast.

The AFC Champions League (ACL) for 2009 has been revamped and will feature 32 teams in the group stages (preeviously 28), with the prize money increased to US$1.5 million for the winners and US$750,000 for the runners-up.

The first stage comprises eight groups of four teams who will play each other both home and away. Groups A-D feature West Asian and Central Asian teams while Groups E-H is composed of East Asian and ASEAN teams.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the round of sixteen, where the top teams are at home for a straight one-match, knock-out competition.

An open draw will then be conducted for the quarter-finals stage, with a home and away format used until the final, a one-off match in Tokyo.

Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna will attempt to use links between his club and English outfit Sheffield United secure players to bolster his squad for the ACL. McKinna confirmed long-established rumours that one of the players targetted will be Socceroo David Carney.

Jets coach Gary van Egmond hopes to bring in as many as five new players. Too late to save their 2008/09 A-League campaign. The current A-League Champions sit dead-last on the domestic competition ladder, four points behind the nearest rival Perth Glory, with three rounds to play.

Missing out on the A-League finals means van Egmond will be looking for friendly opponents ahead of their first match of the ACL competition on March 11.

Melbourne host Adelaide in a clash between the top two on the A-League ladder, in what is shaping as a preview of this season's grand final.

Victory will record an aggregate all-time home attendance of 1 million spectators at tonight's match, which was rescheduled from Round 15 due to Adelaide's involvement in the AFC Champions League. In 41 A-League matches so far Victory has notched up an aggregate home attendance of 999,647.

Adelaide has stood above the rest this season and sits atop the A-League ladder with matches in-hand. Coach Aurelio Vidmar said the next couple of weeks would shape The Reds' season

"Apart from the ACL and Club World Cup, I don't think we've played such a significant game as this one (against Melbourne)." Vidmar said

"If we can win the next couple of games it will put us on a pretty good footing to finish first or second."

Tonight's match against Melbourne is the first of three games in seven days for The Reds. These matches will almost certainly decide whether Adelaide United is crowned 2008/09 Premiers.

During the past few days much of the talk has been about the playing surface at Telstra Dome, however another story doing the rounds has the AFL at loggerheads with the stadium over its naming rights, sponsorship and use by Melbourne Victory.

Meanwhile, the draw for AFC Champions League 2009 will be held tomorrow (January 7), with coverage on the Fox Sports News channel from 6pm AEDT.